When Hannah was sick, we were so blessed to be surrounded by the love of God's people. We received an incredible amount of support from our friends and family...food, financial gifts, cards, letters, emails, phone calls, visits, and most of all, prayer...we were absolutely overwhelmed (in a good way!!) with all that we received. These things did so much to help us along the way as we went through our cancer journey. As we walked our road, though, we met many people along the way who clearly did not have the kind of support we had. We also discovered how helpful it was to get together with other people who were traveling similar journeys, just to share stories, compare experiences, etc.
This week, we will be traveling to Allen, Texas, to visit a church that has a Cancer Ministry. This ministry includes five parts: a monthly support group for cancer patients and their families, organized prayer support, a cancer education program, a special events program (Relay for Life, blood drives, etc.), and a ministry to meet the physical needs of those with cancer (meals, mowing grass, etc.). We feel that God may be calling us to start a similar type of ministry at our church in Hot Springs, and we will be visiting this church to see how theirs is organized, what has/has not worked for them, etc. We're just in the very beginning stages of this project...we don't yet know in what form God may choose to create this ministry in our church.
Please pray for us as we make this trip...that God will show us what we need to see and teach us what we need to learn about this ministry, and how best it can be implemented in our church. We're also going to squeeze in a family visit while we're there...Brad's sister and her husband live in Waco, and we're looking forward to seeing them and their six-month-old daughter, Faith, while we're there!
Also, please continue to pray for Jamie Morris...currently battling osteosarcoma for the ninth time! He has started a blog of his own--check it out at www.jm-journal.com/blog. Also, Lauren Crook, who I've mentioned several times over the past few months, is scheduled for scans on Friday...please keep her in your prayers as well.
Thank you so much for your prayers...you all continue to carry us through this journey day by day! Let me close with a paragraph from an email we received last week...what an encouraging word!
"I remember you guys often in my prayers. Based on your previous mailings, I know your faith has been strengthened through all this, but I also suspect that the human side (that still exists) can sometimes get you down. What a conflicting condition we live in here and now; our spirit with its eternal perspective and our bodies with its limitations and emotions. How amazing is it that even though what you’ve gone through has to be the worst of the worst, that you know and sense the presence of the Father, and that he’s carrying you through. His presence during the worst of the worst and the “peace that surpasses understanding” just confirms that He is God; He is Love; He is Mercy; He is Grace; He is Everything. What a Mighty God we serve!!!!!!!"
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